Mumbai: After a rally on July 14 to protest against the illegal encroachments near Vishalgad Fort in Kolhapur district, Hindu outfits have planned another march – this time to Lohagad Fort near Lonavala - on August 12.
The Vishalgad rally had led to an attack on Muslim homes and a mosque in nearby Gajapur village and concerns have been expressed about law and order in the Lohagad area.
About The Protests
Sakal Hindu Samaj, Maval, and Bajrang Dal, Naval, have announced a 'Chalo Lohagad' as part of the campaign by the group 'Lohagad Mukti Sangharsh' to remove allegedly illegal structures, including a dargah, from the fort. The protests are part of a campaign by the 'Maharashtra Gad-Durg Rakshak Samiti' which demanded that encroachers be evicted from more than 40 forts from the Chhatrapati Shivaji era.
The forts include Raigad, Chandan-Vandangad and Kulaba. Sunil Ghanwat of the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti said that encroachers have gained access to forts even though the Central government's Archeological Survey of India is guarding the structures.
“Visitors are charged a fee for entering the fort but encroachers have built structures inside it," said Ghanwat who alleged that the illegal settlers are part of a 'land jihad' programme to usurp vacant public land and declare it as Wakf or religious endowments. All the encroachers are not Muslims; many are Hindus. Ghanwat said a dargah was built recently on the ridge of Lohagad fort.
"The government has been ignoring the encroachments and avoiding the demolition of the structures making excuses about court orders and the monsoon. In Vishalgad, only a few encroachers have obtained a stay order, but the government has used the excuse to delay the demolition of other structures,” said Ghanwat.
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Demand Of Protestors
The protestors have demanded criminal action against government officials who ignored the encroachments. They have also said that encroachers should not be compensated as this step will encourage the practice. After the Gajapur incident, the government demolished some illegal structures in Vishalgad. A fact-finding committee from civil society groups that visited Gajapur village said that the homes of Muslims who had no connection with the encroachers were attacked and their property was damaged.
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Irfan Engineer, director of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism and a member of the fact-finding committee, said that encroachments should be removed irrespective of the religion of the encroachers. “We have to recover our heritage. However, many of the dargahs date back to the time before Shivaji. When Shivaji captured these forts he did not destroy them. It is now made to seem the mazars are the only encroachments. Illegal commercial structures owned by Hindus have not been targeted,” said Engineer.
“We do not support what happened on July 14 (at Gajapur), but the government should look at the reasons that led to the incident,” said Ghanwat.
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